Friday, 8 July 2016

Edward Bawden's Greenhouse

Cucumber plants fill a greenhouse, pressing so close together there is barely room to squeeze between them. Darkly veined, variegated and disorderly, they seem more alive than they ought to be, an impression enhanced by the contrast between the twisting plants and the pale, angular timbers of the greenhouse roof. Whereas the plants in Eric Ravilious’s later paintings of greenhouses seem to be trapped for ever in a particular moment, these cucumber plants appear to be growing before our eyes; at any moment they might burst out of the picture. Ravilious was, by his own admission, no gardener. Bawden, on the other hand, cared so passionately about horticulture that he rushed home from the Private View of his Zwemmer exhibition to unpack a parcel of plants sent to him by his old friend Cecilia Dunbar Kilburn. It was perhaps through his love for all things vegetable that he met Mr Clapson, the local market gardener who owned this greenhouse and tended these vigorous cucumber plants.

This is an extract from 'The Lost Watercolours of Edward Bawden', coming soon from The Mainstone Press.

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About Me

I write and lecture about art, illustration and design, particularly 20th century British. In 2015 I curated 'Ravilious', an exhibition of watercolours by Eric Ravilious, at Dulwich Picture Gallery, and in 2016 the exhibition 'Century' at Jerwood Gallery, Hastings. As well as Ravilious, I've recently written books on Paul Nash, Edward Seago, Peggy Angus and Edward Bawden. 'The Lost Watercolours of Edward Bawden was published in Sept 2016 by the Mainstone Press.
As a lecturer I've enjoyed speaking at a whole range of venues, from the V&A and the Ways with Words Festival to Hatchards Bookshop and Leeds Art Gallery.
I'm always willing to consider a proposal for a book commission or exhibition. I've recently worked with Portland Gallery on Edward Seago, Towner on Peggy Angus and Dulwich Picture Gallery on Ravilious.

'Russell s commentaries on the individual exhibits are engaging, entertaining and enlightening. His introduction is compelling and refreshingly direct, urging us to look closely but concluding, rightly, that there can be no correct interpretations of Ravilious, whose pictures still quiver with mysterious life.' (Richard Green, Burlington Magazine, May 2015)

A Note on Copyright

The text and most photos are my own. Pictures are shown for the purpose of criticism or review. Copyright remains with the artist or their estate. Please let me know if I haven't correctly identified the Copyright holder.